The Restoration of My 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

Welcome! Let’s start with the best advice you will ever get. First of all, if you are reading this because you are actually thinking of restoring a Gullwing and if you have not restored many other cars this is not the one to start on!  I have restored many cars over my 54 years starting in high school.  This was not by choice but rather by necessity; if I wanted a car anyone else (e.g. girlfriends) would be seen in, I had to make it that way. Second, but of no less importance, make sure you have the temperment for the a process that will keep you wondering what you were thinking about when you started it for the seemingly endless time it will take to get the project done. Third, make sure your budget on a monthly basis will support the project so it can be done in a reasonable time.  Finally (the list is actually much longer) no matter how carefully you estimate the time and budget required, triple the time and double the budget and hope you are still not wrong by much!

What Are You Starting With?

My experience includes lots of cars I wish I still had but paying my way through Ohio State University required parting with just about as many cars as you can imagine.  You see rust guaranteed the untimely demise of many cars because of the regularly salted roads in the Great State of Ohio! There was a plethora of broken down British iron like MG, Triumph and Jaguar available for various reasons including the proximity of the university. It was really a perfect combination for someone with budding mechanical abilities.  “Gully” looked like this in 1999 when I bought her; beautiful but badly or incorrectly “restored” in virtually every aspect!